


With a little help from a friend

by kittykaty



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 07:14:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10736775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittykaty/pseuds/kittykaty
Summary: Sho never has time for Jun, so Jun searches for help in the net.





	With a little help from a friend

**Author's Note:**

> Usually, I don't write SakuMoto. However, they were simply fitted for this scenario and so I went for them. Joe Cocker's Songtitle was the perfect title for this story. Enjoy!

It was 0:30 am when Sho finally arrived back home. When he entered the living room, Jun was sitting on the sofa, already in his pyjamas, reading a book. The younger man looked up at Sho and threw him one of his famous glares before he saying “Welcome back!”

“I'm home!” Sho said and rushed towards the sofa to receive a kiss from his boyfriend. He knew Jun was angry at him. He had told him that he will be back home before midnight but then something came up and he had to shoot another scene of his upcoming drama that wasn't even scheduled for today. Of course it took them longer to shoot this scene and even when Sho yelled at his driver to go faster he could not reach their flat in time. It wasn't his fault that the director decided to change his plan and he knew that deep in his heart Jun would understand.

“Something...” he tried to explain but Jun just shook his head.

“I don't want to know.” he said and now Sho knew that his boyfriend was seriously angry with him. He was always so lost in these sort of situations. People admired Sho because he was always able to find the right words and that's why he usually took the role as moderator of their shows and was even able to work at News Zero, but in situations like this he had no idea what to say.

Since Jun did not show any intention of responding, Sho sighed silently and stood, making his way to the kitchen, hoping that Jun had left him something for dinner and indeed, a plate with Jun's famous pasta was standing on the kitchen table.

Sho put it in the microwave and racked his brain about how he could warm up the icy atmosphere that was between them right now. The moment the microwave beeped, Sho had an amazing idea and abandoned the pasta to rush to Jun.

“Babe, don't you have next weekend off?” he asked and tried not to flinch when Jun just raised an eyebrow.

“I have an interview on Saturday morning but besides that, I'm free.” the younger man answered. Sho smiled suspiciously.

“You know, I have the weekend off too...” he said and came closer. “How about we spend it together, just the two of us?” he suggested and finally the smile he loved so much spread over Jun's face.

“Sometimes I have doubts, but it seems that you are really smart.”he replied before finally allowing Sho to kiss him. Sho closed his eyes when their lips touched, remembering to send his brain a big thanks for coming up with this brilliant idea before he let his hands slip under Jun's shirt...

 

“I am so sorry, Jun!”

Sho was on all fours, apologizing profusely to his boyfriend. He could feel Jun's stare hitting the back of his neck and knew that it would take weeks to fix what he had just destroyed. Without saying a word, Jun went into their bedroom and locked the door behind him. It was a sign that Sho would have to spend the night on the sofa.

The newscaster laid his head onto the cool surface of the floor. He couldn't believe that life was that cruel. Just today he had been informed that the American minister of foreign affairs was visiting Japan and had agreed to have an interview with News Zero. Sho had been given the honour to do it and he had dreamed about such an opportunity for as far back as he could remember. He really hoped that Jun would understand that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he would have to break their date to spend the weekend together. For now, all he could do was wait till Jun had calmed down again...

 

“I don't want to calm down! He promised me!” Jun screamed into his phone.

“I know J, but it's his work and he needs to do it.” Nino tried to calm his friend.

“But it's always because of his work. I haven't seen him for longer than 5 hours since who knows when. I feel like he doesn't want to see me any more, like he doesn't need me any more...” Jun's voice faded while he fought with his tears.

“Do you want me to come over?” Nino asked, feeling his friend's pain.

“You don't need to.” Jun retorted, blinking away his tears furiously. “Finally, I can do all the things I've ever wanted to do but never found the time for.” he explained.

“Okay J, but when you want me to come to you just give me a ring, won't you?” Nino offered although he already knew that Jun would not do it.

“I will! Thanks, Kazu!” With these words Jun cut the call and fell down onto his bed. He could hear Sho rummaging in the living room, probably setting up the sofa for the night. However, Jun decided to stay strong and not let Sho in although he really felt like snuggling against Sho's strong chest. Instead, he began to make plans for the weekend.

 

Somehow, Jun finished all the tasks he had given himself in one day and began to wonder what he should do this evening and tomorrow. He considered calling Nino but tossed the idea away after a few seconds after because he did not want to see Nino desperately trying to cheer him up.

After pacing around the flat in search of something to do, Jun's eyes fell on his laptop. He hadn't touched it in ages but maybe it'd cheer him up to read what his fans were writing about him on the net. He would never openly admit it, but he liked to read their comments about his performances and movies.

He opened his Twitter account and began to work himself through the amazingly high number of new comments. He felt a bit calmer after reading and secretly patted himself and his band mates on their shoulders for doing such excellent work. He was grinning happily from ear to ear when suddenly his eyes fell onto an advertisement.

Does your boyfriend never have time for you? Are you feeling rejected and are unsure about what to do? Come and join us. Together we can talk about our problems and find a solution.

Jun shook his head and went on to read the other comments but his thoughts kept wandering back to the advertisement and after reading the same sentence for the umpteenth time without understanding it, he sighed deeply and clicked on the ad.

Immediately, a window opened and he was asked to choose a username and a password. He decided to use JlovesSho as he had seen many fangirls using names like that, so he thought that it wasn't suspicious in any way. For the password he chose the date Sho had asked him to move together. As soon as he had entered all the details, a window opened and a new message appeared.

“Hi, so your boyfriend doesn't have time for you?”

Jun was a bit surprised by the sudden start of the conversation by a stranger with the name SakuMoto forever. However, he decided to give it a try.

“Yes, he's too busy with his work and I think he doesn't need me any more...”

“I understand your feelings. Do you want to talk about it?”

 

When Sho came home after a long and tiring weekend, he found Jun sitting on the sofa, but something was off. He wasn't reading a book as he'd typically would, but had the laptop on his knees, typing with a soft smile on his face.

“I'm back!” Sho said, approaching Jun.

“Welcome home!” the younger one said without lifting an eye.

“What are you doing?” Sho sat down next to Jun and tried to peep at the screen. However, Jun quickly turned it off blocking the screen from Sho's sight.

“I'm talking to someone.” he simply said, as he was immediately distracted by the sound of an incoming message.

Since Jun was obviously not in the mood for a conversation, Sho rose, feeling quite good about the fact that Jun had talked to him at all. Sho made his way to the kitchen to heat up his dinner, but when he entered the room he stopped abruptly. The table was empty. Jun had not prepared him any dinner and Sho felt the tears dwelling up in his eyes. He told himself to stop being childish and wiped them away, but this hurt Sho more than Jun yelling at him. He returned to the living room where he found Jun in the exact same position as he had left him.

“I'll go down to the kombini to to get something to eat.” he informed Jun. Only when he had nearly closed the door, he heard Jun throwing a half-hearted “Have a safe trip” after him.

 

“Aiba, I don't know what to do any more. He sits in front of his laptop for the entire day talking to that other guy. He isn't the same any more. He does not cook dinner any more. He does not want to sleep with me any more... Aiba, I want him back!”

The tall man sighed. He had known that it would come to this point one day or another after Jun had told them excitedly about his new friend from the web. However, Sho seemed to be so lost right now that the usually very friendly Aiba started to feel a grudge against whoever Jun was chatting with.

“Sho-chan, it's not that you don't know how it's come to this...” he started. He had this conversation before and it exhausted him, but he would tell Sho again and again until that super brain of his that was unable to process against human emotions would finally understand.

“He felt lonely and thought that you didn't need him any more...”

“But that's not true!” Sho screamed.

“Sho, I know that. But it's Jun whom you must show it and make him believe it, not me.”

Sho began to ruffle through his hair desperately. “I don't know what to do. Don't you have an idea?”, he asked and Aiba sighed at the sight of his dense friend. However, there was no way he could leave Sho in his misery, so he told him about his idea.

 

“I want to take you out tomorrow, so please be ready at 7.” Sho told Jun after another meal from the kombini.

“Ah! He said that you will do that to ease your mind and pretend that everything is all right, but basically that doesn't change anything.” Jun replied and Sho looked at him, his mouth gaping open. It took a couple of minutes before Sho recovered enough to speak.

“Who said that?” he asked, still shocked.

“Sato-nii-chan.” Jun gave back, already typing on his laptop again.

“SATO-NII-CHAN?!” Sho was starting to get angry.

“Yeah, he told me to call him that.” Jun said without lifting his eyes from the screen.

“So you're not coming with me tomorrow?” Sho asked making sure remained as calm as possible. This “Sato-nii-chan” was beginning to get on his nerves.

“I won't go with you. As I said, taking me out for dinner doesn't solve anything. And Sato-nii-chan just said that you should think of something better.”

Sho was ready to yell when he realized that this wasn't really Jun's fault. That man he was talking to was planting weird thoughts into Jun's brain and it was beginning to turn his boyfriend against him. So, Sho waited until Jun excused himself to the bathroom and quickly grabbed hold of the laptop.

“Stop giving my boyfriend weird thoughts and stay away from him!” he typed furiously and felt a lot better afterwards. He had to make clear that Jun was HIS boyfriend.

Satisfied, he went to the kitchen to get himself a drink. He was just about to fill the glass when Jun stomped into the room.

“How could you!” he yelled as Sho missed his glass and spilled the liquid onto the counter. “How could you threaten Sato-nii-chan?!” Jun screamed again at the still surprised Sho before he left the room. Sho could hear him entering their bedroom, locking the door behind him. This obviously meant that he had to spend another night on the sofa instead of in the bedroom where he had hoped to have Jun screaming his name under him later.

 

Jun was sulking on his bed, reading how his chat partner told him that it was a good sign that Sho claimed him but Jun felt as if Sho had invaded his privacy. However, he wasn't quite sure how far his privacy went because Sho was his boyfriend and they didn't have any secrets before – he had read Sho's mails and Sho had read Jun's messages after all, so why was it bothering him now?

In the middle of his inner turmoil, Jun's cell phone rang.

“Hey J, you wanna go out and drink something with me?” Nino's unusually cheerful voice resounded in his ear.

“No, I'm talking to Sato-nii-chan right now.” Jun replied not even realizing how strange it was for Nino asking him out for a drink.

”So you're dumping your best friend because you're talking to some weird old man in the net?” Nino asked, unable to believe that this was happening.

“He is not a weird old man.” Jun gave back. “He understands me!”

“And I do not?” Nino asked, getting angry. “Listen J, this is my advice as your friend. There is a world outside of the net and you should not forget about your real friends and the people that care about you.” Nino sounded really earnest but it just made Jun angry.

“You don't understand!” he just said before cutting the call, turning towards the screen where lots of messages were waiting to be answered.

“Aiba, I'm lost! Jun ignored my invitation and said that I don't understand. This weird person he is talking to twists his mind against me and I cannot believe that he trusts this person more than me.” It was two days after their fight and Sho was still sleeping on the sofa. He hadn't been able to talk to Jun as he was either at work or locked away in the bedroom with the laptop.

Sho had decided that it could not go on any longer. He wanted his cute and caring Jun back and not this ice-cold man into which he had transformed. However, since he was at a loss of ideas (he had even prepared breakfast for Jun who had completely ignored it), Sho was once again relying on his best friend.

Aiba was sipping on his beer, listening to Sho without telling him that he was just plain stupid when it came to human emotions.

“What is so great about this Sato-nii-chan anyway? What does he have what I don't? He can't even kiss Jun, hold him tight or...do anything else he likes.” Sho droned on and Aiba decided that Sho would probably never find out what he was doing wrong, so he needed to intervene.

“The person that Jun is talking to is always there for him. He gives Jun the feeling of being wanted, being needed.” Aiba explained and left Sho some time to work through his words. While the two stayed silent, Aiba's phone beeped, indicating an incoming message. It was from Jun.

“I'm going to break up with Sho tonight. I just thought I'll let you know...” Before Aiba could react, Sho suddenly gasped.

“You mean Jun wants me to tell him that I want him and that I need him?” Aiba nodded furiously.

“That's it! He needs to hear those words and you better tell him quick, like NOW!” With these words, Aiba pushed Sho from his barstool and nodded to him, trying his best to smile.

When Sho left the bar, Aiba closed his eyes and prayed that it wasn't too late now that Sho had finally realized what to do. Aiba reached for his phone to reply Jun's message.

 

The reactions of his friends regarding his messages were completely different. Aiba asked him if he was really sure about it and Jun replied that he was. Ohno just said that he is sorry that this is going to happen but he would support Jun and help him through the next few weeks. Nino however, wasn't as calm as the other two. It only took him a minute after Jun had sent the message to him until he called back.

“Was it his idea?” he screamed and Jun, who had decided to not get mad at Nino this time, felt his anger boiling in his stomach.

“No, it was my very own decision.” he replied, forcing himself to stay calm.

“But I am sure he told you this is the right thing to do.” Nino retorted with a snort.

“He did, but Nino, isn't it the right thing to do if I feel better after doing it?” Jun asked. He heard Nino taking a deep breath at the other end until his friend spoke again.

“Ne, Jun, do you really think it will make you happy? Being without Sho?”

“I know that I am unhappy the way it is now and this is the only way out I can think of, so I guess it has to be like this.” Jun explained, but he had been asking himself the same question a thousand times already.

“I see...” Nino's voice was soft now, a sound Jun seldom heard but liked about his friend. “Be easy on him, okay? You know he appears cool and smart, but basically he is just a big idiot when it comes to emotions” Nino said and Jun had to suppress a giggle. He promised to be as nice as he could be in such difficult circumstances.

 

“He didn't come to work today.”

Jun was glad that he could talk to his Sato-nii-chan in the evening because his flat felt so cold without Sho. When Sho came back the evening before, he had not given the older man a chance to talk although it had obviously been something important to Sho. Jun quickly broke up with him because he wasn't sure if he could do it if he looked at this man he had adored since he was a little boy. Sho had turned white and Jun was worried that he would have a breakdown but the older man had came to his senses again and left the flat without a single word.

Jun felt terrible and had not been able to sleep until Aiba had written him a message that Sho had turned up in front of his door, completely drunk. Aiba had promised to take care of him, but still, Jun felt like the worst person on earth.

When Sho hadn't turned up for the shooting this morning, Jun had felt his heart cramping in his chest and all he had wanted was to run to Aiba's flat to tell Sho that he was sorry. However, Sato-nii-chan had predicted that he would feel that way and had told him to stay strong, so Jun had made it through the day without asking Aiba for his keys.

Now that he was back and knew that no matter how long he'd wait, Sho would not turn up, Jun began to honestly doubt if he made the right decision.

The sound of an incoming message brought Jun back to reality.

“It was a big shock for him and I think he will need some time before he can see you again.”

“But I feel terrible for doing this to him.” Jun replied.

“This is probably the hardest part of breaking up, but you have to stay strong! If you go back to him now, nothing will change.”

Jun nodded. Sato-nii-chan was right as always. He had to make it through the days now and he'd surely feel better soon.

 

Sho came back to work one week later and Jun nearly had a heart attack when he saw the dark rings under Sho's red and swollen eyes. His skin had a weird colour: something between yellow and brown and Jun had to force himself not to stand up and take care of Sho's hair that was standing up in all directions. When Aiba told him that Sho looked actually a lot better than he had in days, Jun felt the tears dwelling up in his eyes, though he was not sure if it was because he had hurt Sho so much or he was hurt himself.

Since the breakup, they barely saw Sho laugh or joke around and he had made sure that he only met with Jun when it was absolutely unavoidable like filming VSA or AniShi. For photoshoots Sho took care of not to be placed next to Jun, so their pictures always ended up with Jun and Sho on the sides while the other three were squeezed in the middle. Jun had lost count of how many times the photographer or the director had asked Sho to be a bit more cheerful and sometimes it had taken them several hours until they were finally satisfied with the shoot. Although Aiba, Ohno and Nino never complained, Jun knew that they were also suffering from the frosty atmosphere that was between Sho and Jun, because no matter how much Jun was watching Sho, he made sure the other one would not realize it. As Sho was quite dense in realizing hidden views and gestures, he had no idea that he was being watched, but of course Nino did.

One day, when Jun was sitting in their greenroom, Nino sat down next to him.

“Ne, J, I know you are still watching him and you are worried about him. Don't you think it's better to stop playing the princess and make up with him?”

Jun looked coldly at his friend and was quite proud that he managed this expression, because he had been pondering over this question for the past few weeks as well, but he did not want to expose it.

“It's no use. Nothing will change anyway.” he replied. It had become his standard answer whenever he was wondering about it by himself and also Sato-nii-chan had told him that there was no guarantee that Sho would suddenly turn into someone who would prioritizing work over him.

“If you say so...” Nino retorted and turned away. “It's just not only Sho who is affecting the mood in Arashi...” Jun snorted. “You know how much harmony Aiba needs to not get depressed and right now there isn't much harmony. Also, it is hard to always keep up the mood and make sure you two don't talk to each other.” Nino went on and Jun realized that he was giving him subtle hints. Still, Jun had never been good with criticism...

“Are you telling me that it's my fault?” he asked sharply.

“All I am saying is that Arashi is facing quite a hard time now and I am hoping that we can find a way out of all this...”

With these words, Nino left Jun also who started to brood over his friend's words.

 

As if being scolded by his best friend wasn't enough, their managers called for a meeting a week later. They informed them that even their fans had realized that something must have happened between Sho and Jun and that the internet was full of the wildest speculations.

All five members denied that something had happened and Jun realized that Sho had been right when he had insisted on keeping their relationship a secret and only tell Ohno, Aiba and Nino. Sho had promised to work on that problem and their managers had been satisfied. Jun felt bad that Sho took all the blame for it, but he had not been able to say anything as he had felt like breaking into tears. He had hoped that he would feel better as time passed, but even after two months he still felt as shitty as on the day he had broken up with Sho. Still, his pride forbid him to give in...

 

“He asked me to meet with him!!!”

Jun came running into the greenroom and all four faces turned to him. “Who?” Aiba asked, but Nino had already pulled a face as he knew whom Jun was talking about.

“Sato-nii-chan!” A smile spread over Jun's face. He had been burning to meet with the person he had talked to but had never found the courage to ask. He was so happy that he did not see the shadow that was crossing Sho's face.

Their AniShi shooting afterwards was a disaster but Jun did not realize it as he was already counting the hours until the weekend.

 

Jun had dressed up for the meeting and was walking from the parking space to the café. He had been unable to sleep the previous night because he had been trying to picture the man he was meeting in a few minutes. They had agreed that Jun would wear a purple scarf whereas the man would wear a red one.

Humming a song, Jun entered the café and looked for the man. At the very end of the room, he saw someone with a red scarf around his neck. His heart began to beat faster and he walked towards the table. However, the closer he came, the more he thought he knew this person and his heart nearly stopped its beat when he was standing in front of the man and two big brown eyes looked up to him.

“Jun?”

“Sho?”

This must be wrong. Maybe there was someone else wearing a red scarf and it was just a coincidence that Sho was here. Jun looked around but even though he tried hard, he could not spot someone else with a red scarf around his neck.

He turned back to Sho who seemed to have recovered from his shock. “I think there must be a mistake.” Jun said and turned on his heels to go, his emotions in a whirlwind of chaos, when he felt a hand around his wrist.

“Please give me just one minute.” Sho pleaded and Jun had always been weak to Sho's begging eyes.

“He sat down opposite of the older man and looked warily at Sho.

“I don't know why you are here, but I will use this opportunity to tell you something that I wanted to tell you two months ago.” Sho began and Jun vaguely remembered that Sho wanted to tell him something important that evening two months ago when he broke up with him.

“Jun, please come back to me!”

Jun thought he was dreaming when Sho's soft, but pleading voice hit his ears. “I need you in my life. I need you to be by my side and the last two months without you have been a nightmare! I know that I was a bad boyfriend because I made you wait for me over a hundred times. Also, I do not keep my promises and I know I am a workaholic. Still, there is nothing I need more in my life than you, so please come back!”

Jun's brain was suddenly a mess and he wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. He blinked a few times, but Sho was still there, looking at him, his eyes big and round, but worried and scared. He went through Sho's words again and Jun realized that this was what he had always wanted to hear coming out of Sho's mouth. Everything he needed Sho to tell him was what he had just said and considering how bad he felt during the past two months, Jun didn't need more than one minute to make a decision.

He reached out for Sho's hand and squeezed it tight, while he smiled at his boyfriend. They still had to consider that they were in public, but Sho seemed to understand the answer as tears were running down his cheeks while he was smiling like an idiot. Still, Jun was sure that Sho had never been as beautiful as he was now.

“Let's go home!” Jun said, feeling airheaded, repeating Sho's words in his head again and again to make sure he would never forget them. Sho simply nodded and followed Jun out of the café.

 

“Why did you come to the café?” Jun asked, laying his head onto Sho's chest, enjoying the warmth that came from the naked skin. They barely had made it to their flat before they ripped each other's clothes off and used the wardrobe for something that it wasn't intended. Now, they were lying under the blanket in their bed and Jun had never been as happy as today. Judging from the bright smile that was still plastered on Sho's face, the other man felt the same.

“Leader asked me to meet to discuss how I can make you come back to me.” Sho answered and began to comb through Jun's soft hair.

“Leader?” Jun asked in disbelief. However, he suddenly remembered that at the table behind Sho there was a man that looked like Ohno who was wearing sunglasses and a hat. Also, Jun could remember his bag that had a huge writing across and if Jun recalled correctly it had said “SakuMoto forever”. Also, suddenly, the name Sato-nii-chan made sense to Jun.

Jun breathed in deeply. He could not believe that he had been fooled by their sleepy leader like that...

 

“I cannot believe that you did that!” Nino said, giving Ohno a sour look. All five of them were sitting in their greenroom waiting for the shooting. Sho and Jun were on the sofa, Jun snuggled up to his boyfriend and judging the way Sho held the newspaper he was reading upside down, they were definitively not looking at the latest news.

“It was worth it.” Ohno just replied with a shrug.

“You put Arashi's fate on the line.” Nino responded trying to stay calm as he did not want to wake Aiba who was sleeping on his shoulder.

“I would never do that.” Ohno retorted, turning the page of his fishing magazine.

“How could you know that it will end well?” Nino asked. Trying to ignore the fact that Aiba was drooling on his shoulder.

“Because I am your leader and I know my members.”

This comment left Nino speechless because he realized that Ohno was right. Additionally, he had to admit that there were still a lot of things he did not know about Ohno...


End file.
